Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  04/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had tickle lipo done at The LIfestyle Center & it was a rip off, a total waist of money & time. Lets start with the consulation. I met with ***** for my consult during she showed me her stomach & told me " her stomach was much bigger then mines, so if he got her stomach down mines would definitely be flat. The doctor come in the room during the consult and looked at my stomach. He said " your stomach will be flat but not smooth, becasue it's not smooth now.There was no hardening on my abdomen prior to lipo. I was ok with that as long as my stomach would be flat. I worked extremely hard for that $2700 for my procedure. I was scheduled on December 9 2021. As the procedure begin, when the doctor turned on the machine ***** his assistant stated the machine was making a weird noise. The doctor agreed & proceeded to perform lipo on my abdomen area. I felt the entire procedure, & it was painful but I was awoke so expected. I expected some swelling tinderness afterwards. I came in about a week or two after the lipo for venus legacy & I mentioned that my stomach was really hard & still big. ***** came in the room and told me this was normal that's why they do the venus legacy, it just swelling, thats why it's important to get massages afterwards. It's just dead tissue & to drink plenty of water so I can flush out. With getting the venus legacy &massages it will soften up & swelling will go down.I got masseage about 2 times a week. When I came to The Lifestyle Center for my 2nd venus legacy the dr. felt my stomach it was still hard and big he said he would give me another venus legacy treatment on him. I finally called and spoke with ***** sometime in February to tell her i was not pleased with my results. My stomach was still pretty much the same size.There was no big difference from when I had lipo. She took pictures on 3/10 & said yea i can see that, but now she's trying to tell me it visceral fat but previouls it was scared tissue and swelling. Total rip off sad

  Business response

  04/26/2022

  We are sorry to hear that this patient is unhappy with her Tickle Lipo results. She is 4 months out from her procedure and we typically expect that it will take 6 months to see full resolution of her swelling and 12 months for the body to remodel itself. All patients are told this prior to their procedure and at their two week follow-up. During the patient's consultation, it was pointed out that her upper abdomen had a large amount of visceral fat and the only fat the could be removed was that which could be pinched. Visceral fat cannot be removed with liposuction. In addition, it was pointed out that the client's abdomen was very irregular and that the Tickle Lipo procedure would not even this out. It was also strongly recommended that the patient add Renuvion, an energy device, on to her Tickle Lipo procedure as this generally increases the amount of fat that we are able to remove by 50%. The patient elected not to add on the Renuvion procedure.
  
  
  At no time during her consultation was the patient told that she would have a flat abdomen as that was an unobtainable result given the degree of visceral fat which she has. 
  The patient was seen in the office on March 10, 2022 for her 3 month pictures. She again was noted to have a very large visceral component in the upper abdomen with modest size reduction in the lower abdomen and some residual swelling. This would have been within the expectations we had at the time of her consultation and two week follow-up. However, clearly this does not meet the expectations that the patient had based on her complaint. We work very hard to set out realistic expectations to our patients before proceeding with any procedure. In this case, based on the patient's complaint, I don't believe that her expectations can be met. 
  While I don't agree with the patient's characterization of our practice, I do understand that people can be upset when their expectations are not met. For that reason, we will issue a refund in the full amount paid by the patient. Additionally, I would add that given the degree of the patient's visceral fat, her expectation of greater improvement with another liposuction procedure will not be met.

  Customer response

  04/26/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:This response from The LifeStyle Center is not true at all and it is so disheartening to see the dishonesty of this company. During my consultation the doctor statement to me were " do you see these indents in your stomach they will still be there but your stomach will be flat". I've spoke with ***** the doctor's assistant several times and they have never ever told me that I had visceral fat prior to the procedure. They only time that was mentioned to me was when I came in the office on March the 10th 2022 because I called ***** and told her I was not happy with the results. ***** told me to come in so she could take pictures and take a look at me. When I got there after looking at me there was some hesistation as if she was trying to figure out what to tell me. ***** looked at me and the pictures and said well I don't see much of a difference, hesistated before continuing , then said well this is visceral fat. I had my procedure on December 9th since then I've spoke with ***** several times and she told me, when I would come in for my venus legacy she would say " your going to love your results, trust me your stomach is going to be flat this is just swelling. Drink plenty of fluids so you can pass the fat cells it will help the process".  I worked very hard to come up with the money for that procedure, and all you guys had to do was be honest from the beginning. If I would of been told this was visceral fat why would i waste my money knowing I wouldn't get the desired results. The doctor did recommend  renuvion for I believe another 2700 which was no guarantee it was going to do much and I did not have that kind of money. It's very unfortunate how dishonesty The Lifestyle Center is. 
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *****

  Business response

  04/27/2022

  We stand by our previous response. I personally examined the patient and advised her of her visceral fat during her consultation  and demonstrated where fat could be reduced by pinching those areas for reduction. I do not believe that any surgical procedure, including liposuction or abdominoplasty, will meet this patient's desired goal of a flat abdomen. As we said previously, we will refund the full amount paid by the patient and she can go on to seek another opinion.

  Respectfully,

  ******* ****** ****

  Customer response

  04/28/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The dishonesty with your practices is very concerning for me. When I had my consultation with you Dr. ***** you barely was in the room for 5mins. You looked at my stomach area, touched my stomach and then said " you see these indents in your stomach they will still be there but I can get you flat". You did suggest i get the renuvion for I believe it was about another $2000. I told you I could not afford that at this time. I worked overtime to come up with that money. Why would I pay you guys 2700 to now turn around and pay 3400 to have this done correctly?  The first time I heard anything about visceral fat was from ***** on 03/10/22. However before she mentioned that it was visceral fat she said " yea theres not much of a difference" paused with hesitation then said " well you know this is visceral fat". I see that taking an Oath and Ethics means nothing. I really hope in the future the theirs more of a consideration for the patients then what I was given. 
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *****

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